Alexander Kazimirovich Tolush

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Alexander Kasimirowitsch Tolusch ( Russian Александр Казимирович Толуш , scientific transliteration Aleksandr Kazimirovič Toluš ; born  May 1, 1910 in Saint Petersburg ; † March 3, 1969 ibid (then Leningrad)) was a Soviet grandmaster in chess .

Life

Except for his military service - he was an officer in the Red Army during the Second World War - Tolush spent his entire life in Leningrad. He also celebrated his first chess successes in his hometown. In 1938, 1946 and 1947 (together with Georgi Lissizyn ) he won the Leningrad City Championships, he also shared first place in 1937 and 1954. In 1938 Tolush shared seventh place in the semifinals of the XI. USSR championship in Leningrad, which meant that he qualified for the final, which was also held in Leningrad the following year. With 18 participants, however, he did not get beyond the shared 15th to 16th place. It won the future world chess champion Mikhail Botvinnik .

His next participation in the championships in 1944 was more successful, he defeated, among other things, the eventual winner Botvinnik and ended up in seventh place. Tolusch took part in other USSR Champinonates and reached the XVIII. Championships in 1950, after he had finished twelfth in 1945 and fifth in 1946 and 1947, tied for second place behind Paul Keres , only half a point behind first. Tolusch was then awarded the title of International Master .

Alexander Tolusch achieved his greatest tournament success at the strong international tournament in Bucharest in 1953, where he was only defeated by the world champion from 1957 to 1958 Vasily Smyslow and won the tournament by a full point ahead of other players such as Petrosjan , Boleslawski , Spasski and Szabó (+10 = 8 −1). Because of this achievement, Tolusch was awarded the title of Grand Master by the World Chess Federation FIDE .

He was also appointed to the Soviet national team, with which he won the European team championship in 1957 and 1961 . Tolusch won the Soviet club championship in 1952 with Iskra , in 1954 he took part in this competition with Zenit .

Alexander Tolusch was considered an excellent combination player and tactician who won numerous "beauty awards". On the other hand, he was said to have weaknesses in positional play and maneuvering . However, the world champion from 1969 to 1972, Boris Spasski, who was trained by Tolusch for eight years from 1951, benefited from his tactical talent. Spasski once described his coach as a “player of inspiration”.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Willy Iclicki: FIDE Golden book 1924-2002 . Euroadria, Slovenia, 2002, p. 74.
  2. ↑ Alexander Tolusch's results at the European Team Championships on olimpbase.org (English)
  3. ↑ Alexander Tolusch's results at Soviet club championships on olimpbase.org (English)
personal data
SURNAME Tolusch, Alexander Kasimirowitsch
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tolusch, Alexander; Толуш, Александр Казимирович (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Soviet chess grandmaster
DATE OF BIRTH May 1, 1910
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Petersburg
DATE OF DEATH March 3, 1969
Place of death Leningrad